


Redefining Safety

by Kandakicksass



Series: Dying (to see you in the) Light [7]
Category: Dying Light (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-22
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-04-27 14:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5052007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kandakicksass/pseuds/Kandakicksass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brecken tells Jade about Rahim's extreme amount of stupid. Rahim and Kyle get ready to head back to the tower.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Redefining Safety

The next morning, Kyle’s first priority is to relieve himself and eat a couple snack bars for what amounts to breakfast. His second priority is to zip up and make his way back inside, to where Rahim’s spread out over the sleeping bag.

His mouth is open a little and he’s rolled onto his back, his shirt riding up just enough that Kyle can see the taut muscles of his abdomen. Kyle kneels down next to him and combs through his bag until he has enough gauze and alcohol laid out that he can clean and bandage Rahim’s leg back up. A bite that nasty needs to be cleaned up more than the once.

Rahim wakes up as he’s snipping the used bandages off. He’s groggy for a second, but in Harran, one learns to wake up fast. “Oh,” he yawns, struggling to sit up without jostling his leg too much. “I can take care of that.”

Kyle smiles a little without looking at him, focused on not getting the alcohol all over the place. “I don’t mind.” The sunlight sweeps over his skin through the open window, tanned in Kyle’s pale hands. For a minute, he wants to let himself ignore the mess and filth around him, because Rahim, bathed in sunlight, is so beautiful. Kyle has seen so very few beautiful things in this hellscape.

Rahim doesn’t protest again, just watches him work with an unreadable expression. When Kyle’s done, he helps Rahim up, so he can sit him at a chair someone pulled from god knows where.

“You’re looking better,” he comments, kneeling down in front of him so he can inspect Rahim’s face for any trace of the haze from the day before. He’s bright eyed and metaphorically bushy tailed, which is frankly a relief.

“I feel better,” Rahim agrees, then sighs and leans down to press a soft kiss to Kyle’s mouth. “Thank you for coming after me.” Kyle wishes he would smile, but he doesn’t expect him to. “Omar… his body is still on the overpass.”

The _it’s my fault_ goes unsaid, but Kyle and Rahim both know how this goes. “We can’t go back for it,” Kyle says instead. “You know that. It’s too much dead weight – half of the body has probably been eaten anyway.” Rahim nods and closes his eyes for a moment. It might be a moment to gather himself, or a silent prayer. Kyle doesn’t know, and doesn’t ask.

Finally, he can’t stay silent anymore. “You can never do anything like this again, okay?” Kyle says quietly. It’s a demand, really, and they both know it. “This… this was so fucking dumb, Rahim. It’s like you’re such a genius because you were saving all your stupid for this – that’s how dumb it was. You should have left this job to me.”

“I could have done it,” he insists, but the words don’t have the fire they usually do. “Everything just went to shit so quickly… I just wanted to do something useful.” His eyes are downcast. He looks ashamed. Kyle doesn’t want to make him feel bad about himself; he wants Rahim to think about the consequences.

“You do useful things every day without getting yourself killed,” Kyle tells him softly. His own fight is gone – he’d been so _angry_ yesterday, so terrified, but now that Rahim is alive and safe, there’s only the sweetness of relief. He opens his mouth to continue, but is cut off by a static sound.

Jade, it seems, isn’t feeling the same relief Kyle is.

“ _Is this a fucking joke_?”

Rahim grimaces at Kyle’s comm, set down by his bag. Kyle sighs and scoops it up.

“Morning, Jade.”

“If my brother isn’t with you, I’m going to slaughter you,” she growls, and Kyle immediately feels a headache coming on. He’d known this conversation wouldn’t be fun, but he’d wanted to save it until they’d gotten back to the tower.

Rahim gingerly takes the comm from his hand, and Kyle sits cross legged at his feet, folding his arms over Rahim’s knees and resting his chin on the top one. “I’m here, Jade,” he says hesitantly. Immediately, there’s an exhale. It sounds more furious than pleased. “Look, before you go off on me –“

“Don’t you even dare,” she hisses. “Do you know how it felt when Brecken told me this morning that you had left the tower on your suicide mission? You’d be dead right now if Crane hadn’t gone after you. I should skin you alive.” She pauses, and then adds in a voice like ice, “You’re never leaving the tower again. _Ever_. I should tie you to Brecken’s side to make sure you’re never even alone.”

Rahim’s lip starts to curl, but Kyle reaches out and grabs Rahim’s free hand. He rubs his thumb over the back of it in gentle sweeping motions. In spite of everything, the casual contact sends a thrill up Kyle’s spine; he can’t remember the last time he was close enough to another person for something like this.

Rahim takes a deep breath and squeezes his hand. “It was stupid,” Rahim snaps, but it’s considerably softer than it would have been. “Kyle already told me that. I _know_ , okay?”

“You would have died.” Her voice is suspiciously scratchy, and Rahim expression twitches toward something like guilt. “And no one even told me! What if it had gone south? And I wouldn’t have even known you left the tower?”

“I’m sorry,” Rahim says, and he leans over again, bending himself in half so he can rest his head on Kyle’s shoulder. He pulls his free hand from Kyle’s so he can wrap it around Kyle’s neck. His fingers scratch at the short hair at the back of his head. Kyle just slides his newly freed hand up Rahim’s back and back down again, rubbing mindlessly. “I’m alive. I’m okay. I got bit, but Kyle had Antizin, so I’m fine.”

“When you get back to the tower, I’m going to kick your ass.”

“Get in line,” Rahim snorts, the words only slightly muffled by Kyle’s shoulder. “Brecken already said he was going to kill me himself.”

“And he’s right to,” Jade snaps. She pauses, then adds tersely, “By the way. There’s more going on here at the tower. Crane?”

He lets Rahim sit back up and hand the comm over. “I’m here, Jade. What’s up?”

“A bunch of Rais’s men broke down the fence around Zere’s trailer and they took Zere. Brecken says we should have stayed away from the school, that it provoked him.”

Kyle squeezes his eyes shut. He’s so fucking tired of Rais’s bullshit. “Did they get any of his research?”

“… no.” Jade sounds uncomfortable. “I have it, Crane, but that doesn’t do any of us any good, especially since they took Zere. There’s another doctor, in the old town, that I can take it to if they’ve killed him, but that’s going to make this a lot more complicated.”

Kyle sighed. “It probably would have had to go there eventually anyway, Jade. The other doctor has an actual lab, from what Zere said. But we still can’t leave Zere in their clutches; they’ll kill him if we don’t go after him.”

“They’ll probably do that anyway, if they haven’t already,” Jade says grimly. “Rais is pissed, Crane, and he’s pissed at us.”

Kyle has a sick feeling in his stomach. He _knew_ Rais had it in for him and this sounded like exactly the kind of manipulative bullshit he would pull. “I’ll go,” he says after a long moment of silence, and Rahim grips his shoulder tight. When Kyle looks up at him, he’s glaring something fierce. “I’ll bring Rahim back to the Tower, and then I’ll go after him.”

Jade made a noise of discontent. “Okay, we’ll – we’ll talk about it when you two get back here, okay? I’m going to go talk to Brecken about any possible angles we can take. Just… be safe.”

“We’ll be fine. Crane out.”

He tosses the comm on the sleeping bag and turns back to Rahim, who has the most absurd look of disbelief on his face. “You just finished chewing my ass out for my suicide mission,” he says. “And now you want to run off to Rais alone? He’ll kill you! He has weapons and men who will shoot you on sight, and you want to go off there alone?”

“We don’t have any other –“

“Bullshit!” Rahim hisses, but Kyle reaches up and cups his face with both hands, securing him in place. Rahim reaches up and wraps his hands around Kyle’s wrists, but doesn’t attempt to pull away. “I want you to be safe, too,” he says, and it’s accompanied with a bitter glance at his leg. “But I can’t go with you on this one, not like this. And even if I did, we’d still get killed.” Kyle chooses not to point out that Rahim tagging along, even at full health, would probably be more of a hindrance than help.

Rahim looks so much older with the grave expression on his face. “I have to go,” Kyle says quietly. “I have to at least try and save Zere.”

“I know.” They’re both quiet for a few moments, and then Rahim softens, just a little. “You’ll come back safe. I have faith in you.” He pauses, then shakes his head slightly and bends over again to kiss him. Honestly, if they didn’t have places to be, Kyle could do this all day – god knows he wants to. He pets at Rahim’s neck and bites gently on his lower lip. When they pull apart, Rahim is already grimacing and prepping himself to stand up.

“Ready to get going?” he assumes, and Rahim nods. Kyle’s hands drop from his face and he helps Rahim up instead. They’ve got a long trek back to the tower, and a city full of infected to deal with. The kisses and sweetness are going to have to wait.


End file.
